Morning Light
by Lirenel
Summary: *Challenge 35: Morning* Sometimes older brothers can be frustrating. Sometimes they can be wonderful. And sometimes they can be both at the same time, as Lucy finds out one night. Ed-Lu sibling bonding. Any warnings can be found on my profile.
1. Morning Light

**Title: **Morning Light**  
Disclaimer: **I own absolutely nothing concerning the Chronicles of Narnia.**  
Note: ** The answer to challenge 35: Morning. I've recently noticed a distinct lack of Lucy in my stories, and I sought to remedy this by writing an Edmund-Lucy sibling bonding fic (_bonding _not incest, thank you very much). Also a reminder, I am a classics major. I do not know science and anything I do know comes from Wikipedia, so please forgive any mistakes.

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Lucy woke up to a hand covering her mouth. Heart hammering in her chest, it took only a moment for her eyes to get used to the darkness of her room and recognize that the hand belonged to her older brother. With his dark hair and clothes, Edmund blended in neatly with the black night, but she could still make out the mischievous smile on his face. Removing his hand, he whispered "Come on, Lu, get dressed and meet me at the stables.

"Edmund, what…" she whispered back, but he was already scrambling away towards the door.

He turned back and grinned. "We're sneaking out. Keep quiet, don't want to wake anyone else up. Oh, and wear good shoes." With that Edmund was gone, leaving a very confused Lucy behind.

Still, puzzled though she was, Lucy was not one to abandon a mysterious adventure and so she quickly dressed and slipped silently through Cair Paravel. Edmund was waiting for her, carrying a leather pack and with their horses already tacked up and ready to go. Seeing her approach, Edmund jumped into the saddle and reached out a hand to help Lucy as she scrambled to get on her own horse, still somewhat blurry-eyed from being woken in the middle of the night. Once she was settled, Edmund led them into a fast trot down to the beach that stretched along the eastern coast of Narnia.

Lucy graciously allowed Edmund a little time before she interrupted their ride with words, slowing her horse to a walk. "Ed, are you going to tell me why I'm up and riding about in the middle of the night?"

Edmund pulled his horse back beside hers and just smiled. "No."

Lucy rolled her eyes, which she hoped her brother was able to discern in the moonlight. "You do know that if the castle finds us gone, they're going to fall apart worrying." This was actually a fact she had learned well since their coronation two years previously, much to the relief of the Narnians.

She sighed when Edmund just gave her a smug look and jerked his head upward to indicate the shadow of an Owl floating above them. "Sharpbeak," he said simply to her unvoiced question about the identity of their guard. Apparently this little midnight escape had been planned well in advanced and approved, meaning Lucy had no argument against it. Realizing that she was not going to get anymore out of her infuriating older brother, Lucy just sighed and kicked her horse into a canter, feeling slightly vindicated when Edmund had to hurry to catch up with her.

.

Their ride remained silent until they reached the Cliff of Salni, beyond sight of Cair Paravel. The Cliff, which was technically more of a steep hill than an actual cliff, hovered above the ocean, and the river Salni cascaded over it in sheets, crashing into the sea below. Salni was home to several adventurous and playful Naiads who had channeled their river to a roaring waterfall, often too hazardous for most Narnians to go near. Which was why Lucy was wondering what they were doing there in the hours before dawn.

Edmund dismounted and tied his horse to a nearby tree. Still confused, Lucy followed his example before trailing him to the side of the Cliff. Edmund turned to her with a bright smile. "Follow me, step where I step, and go slowly."

Realizing he was meaning for them to hike up the precipitous hill, Lucy, brave as she was, felt a sense of trepidation. "Edmund, don't you think this is a bit dangerous? I don't think Susan would approve."

"Since when do we need Susan's approval?" asked Edmund, quite accurately. "Don't worry, I found a safe pathway. But just to be on the safe side, I brought this, in case you slip." He held out a strong rope which he tied first to his waist and then around Lucy's.  
Despite her nervousness, Lucy was not called the Valiant by the Narnians for no reason. Her sense of adventure took over her wariness, and Lucy fearlessly followed Edmund as he began climbing. The darkness made the path even more precarious, so both siblings concentrated on their feet instead of talking. _Not_ thought Lucy wryly _that Edmund has said much anyway on this trip_. She tried not to be frustrated with her brother, but lack of sleep and the exertion of trying not to fall to an untimely death and drag Edmund with her made Lucy a little more irritated than she usually would be with the situation.

Finally, they reached a small, horizontal shelf that seemed to wind across the Cliffs into the great waterfall. Edmund led her closer and closer to the falls, and Lucy came to a stop when she realized that the path led _behind_ the water. Edmund grabbed her hand and gently tugged her forward. "Watch your step, it gets slippery."

Though the sky was already gaining a grey light as morning approached, the path behind the waterfall led into a cavern of darkness so that Edmund, only an arm's length in front of her, was shrouded in shadow. The only light was a grey mist from the waterfall which thundered by her head. After a few moments of walking, Edmund stopped abruptly, causing Lucy to walk straight into him. "Sorry, Lu, I should have warned you. We're here."

Peering around her brother, Lucy barely made out where the path widened into a shelf. "And what exactly are we supposed to be doing here?"

Edmund pulled her by the hand and sat with his back against the cold stone of the rock shelter. Tugging her down to sit beside him, he pulled his pack in front of them. "I brought breakfast." Fishing around the pack, Edmund pulled out some rather smashed muffins and a canteen of water.

Lucy sighed. "Ed, please tell me you didn't drag me out of my bed in the middle of the night for a harrowing rock climb just to eat stale muffins and drink tepid water."

He handed her an apple from the pack. "They aren't stale," Edmund said quietly and Lucy almost wished she hadn't been so harsh. She usually did not snap at her brother for his quirks, that was Susan's job, but she was tired and had already been in a rather foul mood for the past few days. Why did he have to bring her here _now_, why not some other time when she was feeling better and was more _awake_?

.

Lucy only had two bites of her apple before Edmund's elbow dug into her side. "What?" she asked sharply.

Edmund ignored her tone of voice and whispered, "Look."

Glancing up, Lucy followed his gesture towards the waterfall. The light behind the fall began to turn a light pink, nearly lilac, as the sun began rising over the eastern ocean. All of a sudden, the first golden rays of the sun must have broken the horizon, for the waterfall burst into a flame of gold and pink and white. Lucy gasped as the light grew and blossomed into a golden inferno, and at first she had to shut her eyes against the intensity of the brightness before she was able to take in the wonder before her. Thousands of small rainbows reflected off the falling water and played across the shelter, darting through Lucy's hands as she held them in front of her. With the roar of the waterfall and the golden light surrounding her, Lucy almost felt as if Aslan himself had come bounding into the hollowed rock, brilliant and wonderful and oh so beautiful. She could not stop the delighted laughter that bubbled from her throat, nor the grin that spread across her face when Edmund squeezed her hand and joined in her laughter.

Glancing over at her brother, Lucy smiled. "Oh Ed, it's so lovely! When did you find this place?"  
Edmund looked from his sister back towards the fall. "I was exploring the first few months of our reign and one day I'd decided to try climbing the Cliff. By the time I found this rock shelter it was dark so I thought it would be safer to spend the night here than fall and break my neck walking down. And I woke to…this."

"But that was two years ago! You never mentioned it before." Lucy felt a pang of hurt that her brother had not shared this wonder with his siblings.

Edmund fixed his eyes on the rock floor. "I…I suppose I've still been a bit selfish. It's just…it was a place I could come and be alone, and be…closer to Aslan, I guess. It reminds me so much of him, like I can almost feel his presence, hear his voice. I didn't want to share that."

Now it was Lucy's turn to squeeze her brother's hand. "It's not selfish, Edmund. You're like Susan, you need to be away from people sometimes and it's not easy, what with being kings and queens and all. I don't blame you in the least for not telling us." Edmund gave her a shy smile, and Lucy could tell he was relieved that she understood why he had not told her before. Which left just one question. "Ed, if this is where you go to be alone, why did you bring me along this time? Especially after I've been so horrid to everyone lately."

The Just King squirmed under her questioning gaze. "That's why I brought you. I know, well, you've been missing Aslan a lot recently. I just thought, maybe, you would feel closer to him here, like I do, and feel better."

Lucy stared at Edmund as comprehension dawned on her like the rising of the sun they had just witnessed. Her brother, quiet, solitary Edmund, had brought her to his sanctuary, revealed his cherished haven, to lift her spirits even when all she had done was snap at him. "Oh, Edmund!" She threw her arms around her brother, nearly knocking him over. "Thank you! Thank you for bringing me here, thank you for sharing this with me. And thank you a thousand times for being you."

Edmund said nothing, just hugged her closely. After a few moments, he sat back, keeping one arm around Lucy as the waterfall crashed in front of them and the golden light of the sun wrapped around them and joy filled them.

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The ending is not exactly what I wanted, but I couldn't think of anyway else to end it.


	2. Light of the Dawn

**Author's Note: **This chapter came from a response to Weekly Challenge #14: Dawn at the lj community justkingedmund. Basically a follow up to Morning Light, so I thought I'd add it as a new chapter instead of as a new story. It takes place during _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_.  
**Edited: **Because I stupidly referred to Edmund and Lucy as Eustace's siblings. *headdesk*

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The first day that Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin, Eustace, joined Caspian on his journey on the _Dawn Treader_ was full of chaos: laughter, the telling of old jokes, dealing with Eustace, introducing the King and Queen of old to the crew. It was not until the second day that Edmund was able to talk to Caspian alone; in the morning, a time of stillness and quiet when even those hands who were awake kept their peace, but for the occasional soft song. The young king found his friend on deck, near the bow of the ship.

Caspian smiled as they joined him. "Good morn, Edmund. What brings you here so early?" He had learned three years before, during the War of Liberation, that Edmund was not one to enjoy getting up earlier than needed.

Edmund gave an exaggerated sigh. "You disturbed Eustace when you got up. He's been moaning and groaning ever since; I thought I would find more peace out here." Caspian shook his head and apologize, valiantly managing to hold in his laughter. Only a day, and he could tell that young Eustace was quite a different character than his cousins. Edmund smiled, and continued. "I also thought it would be nice to catch up. You mentioned some of what was going on in Narnia yesterday, but then we got on the subject of where we're _going_…"

Three years of ruling Narnia had matured Caspian some, and he could tell what his fellow-king was thinking. Despite Narnia being so different from the Golden Age of the High King, it was still Edmund's land. And he wanted to know more of how his land and people were faring under their new king. Caspian, of course, was delighted to oblige. For quite some time – neither boy made note of the watch – the new king reported on the state of their country to the old king.

Finally, it seemed to Caspian that he had run out of things to tell Edmund. The Just King, on the other hand, had one more question. "Caspian, why did you name the ship _Dawn Treader_? Captain Drinian mentioned last evening, when I was asking him about the ship, that your ship-builders were taught by Galmians. I had assumed the Galmians would also have influenced the ship-naming, and, from what Drinian said, they mostly did." Of the new, small Narnian fleet, most had names such as _Fortitude, Dignity, _and _Endurance_. "But he said that you insisted on giving _Dawn Treader_ her name. Why?"

Caspian smiled, ruefully. "I assume you will not settle for the answer I gave Drinian, that it makes sense to name her _Dawn Treader_ since we are sailing East towards where the sun rises?" The look in Edmund's eyes was all the answer he needed. Caspian ran a hand through his hair and looked out towards the low-hanging sun. "I suppose I could say it was because of the nymphs."

"Nymphs?" Edmund asked, puzzled. Even most water nymphs he knew did not care much about ships; they left that to their kinsmen, the merpeople.

Caspian nodded. "A few weeks after the coronation, some of the Naiads, who Aslan had woken, petitioned that they be allowed to move their river's course. Apparently, after a few hundred years, they had drifted and were unhappy with their delta."

The Telmarine-born king still seemed a little perplexed about the complexities and idiosyncrasies of the relationship between Naiads and their rivers. Edmund could certainly understand his confusion; Naiads could be extremely picky about where their rivers flowed, and often used relational terms about the waters of Narnia that even Edmund couldn't understand all the time, let alone a Telmarine who had little previous experience with living water.

Edmund let Caspian continue with the story. "Anyway, I asked the Narnians who lived in the area – it's a little ways down from Cair Paravel, actually – and they said they would be fine with it, so I gave my permission. Then, a few weeks later, I thought it would be polite to follow up and see how they were doing." This little hint at the care Caspian had for the Narnians comforted Edmund; Aslan had certainly chosen a good man to be king. "I journeyed south, only to find that they had diverted the river right off a cliff!"

_That_ sparked Edmund's memory, but he was cautious at revealing anything. "A cliff?"

Caspian nodded, not noticing Edmund's guarded tone. "Yes. Of course, then I had to figure out how to get _up_ the cliff to talk with the Naiads. Luckily, one of the Owls in my guard mentioned that he had heard about a path that led up the cliff, which he called Salni. A family legend, I believe, but it turned out to be true. The path was rather overgrown and slippery, but I managed not to fall and break my neck. Though I did cause Trumpkin some grief when I wouldn't let anyone risk the climb with me." He shook his head, remembering the dwarf's loud remonstrations. "It ended up not leading to the top of the cliff, but to a path that went _behind _the waterfall that the Naiads had created. Eventually I reached a deep recess behind the falls."

The fact that the younger king was strangely silent, his face solemn with memory, did not register to Caspian, so caught up was he in his tale. "I knew I probably wouldn't get to the top of the cliff that way, so I went back and eventually we found another way up. The Naiads were happy to see us, and assured me they were very happy with their new arrangement." Caspian paused, now lost in the memory. "I asked about the cave in the cliff and one of the older Naiads…she just gave me a mysterious smile and told me to return there before dawn. I was intrigued, so the next morning I went back to Salni and went behind the waterfall right before the sun rose."

Caspian's face lit up at the memory of what happened next. "When it finally came out…Edmund, it was amazing! The light through the water…it was like the prisms Doctor Cornelius showed me, but a thousand more and a thousand times greater! And the color…pink and white and _gold_. The waterfall was roaring and the color was just…overwhelming, it was as if…as if…" He trailed off, uncertain if it was very proper to finish his thought.

But Edmund finished it for him. "It was as if Aslan was right there with you. Comforting you, telling you everything would be alright."

Caspian beamed, excited that his friend understood him. "Yes, exactly! I felt so…calm and refreshed afterwards." He glanced down at the deck of the ship, sheepish. "I…well, I've been there quite a few times since, when things are hard or I'm particularly frustrated. I'm not running away," Caspian hurried to add, lest Edmund think he was ignoring his responsibilities. "I just…"

"Need to get away sometimes. Need to be alone, but reassured that Aslan is still there."

"Precisely," Caspian said softly. "That's why I named this ship _Dawn Treader_: I've come to see the morning, see dawn as a symbol of hope and…and comfort."

Edmund nodded. "You associate dawn with Aslan and the comfort he brings. And you wanted to remember that comfort."

Caspian smiled warmly at Edmund. "I'm so glad you understand. I haven't told anyone else about watching the sunrise behind the waterfall, you know. It just seemed too personal, like my own secret that I couldn't really explain. But I thought you would understand."

Edmund looked away from Caspian to where the sun was fully risen over the horizon. He could tell Caspian that he already knew about the cave in the Cliff of Salni. He could tell Caspian that it was _his_ cave, where _he_ had spent many a morning watching the sun rise, feeling Aslan's presence. He could even tell Caspian that the new king was trespassing on a place that Lucy had decreed off-limits to any without the express permission of King Edmund.

But as Edmund looked back at Caspian, and remembered the joyful expression on the boy's face when he was speaking of the sunrise behind the waterfall, the king of old knew it was time to pass on yet another piece of Narnia, of himself. He had given Caspian his kingdom, his throne, his people. Now it was time to give him his dawn. "I understand well, Caspian," Edmund murmured softly. He laid a hand on Caspian's shoulder and smiled, giving him the words Lucy had spoken in ages past: "You need to be away from people sometimes and it's not easy, what with being a king and all. I don't blame you in the least for not telling anyone." He then added his own words. "Enjoy it, Caspian. Enjoy the sunrise and remember the One who tells the sun to dance each morning."

Caspian didn't know exactly what Edmund was doing, that the king of old was giving him permission to enter his own, personal sanctuary. Still, the young king felt a sense of solemnity in the moment, and his voice was low when he answered, "I shall, King Edmund."

Edmund nodded his approval before turning and walking towards the stern cabin to find Lucy, leaving Caspian behind on deck. He paused outside of Lucy's room and leaned softly against the door. He was surprised at how hard it had been to hear that Caspian had found his haven, but he was glad the young king could find comfort in the sunrise. Edmund breathed in deeply, then, standing straight again, he smiled. Besides, he might have given up one dawn; but they were sailing East. And Edmund rather fancied that they might find an even better Dawn at the end of the journey.

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This started off as a plain story, and then I hit the last sentence and realized I had just made a giant metaphor without realizing it. An explanation of the metaphor is a bit long for here, but if you want you can go to my lj community, libraryofanvard, and check out the commentary I wrote on it.


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